It was in 2017 that Izzard realised she had never read a classic novel, and sought to rectify the omission. Or Arnold Schwarzenegger.”ĭirector Selina Cadell and Eddie Izzard at the opening night of Great Expectations in New York. “Which is not great timing as I’m giving it all up next spring to go into politics, but anyway …” So she’s doing the full Glenda Jackson? “Yes.

“I’m very serious about being a dramatic actor,” she says. As if that isn’t enough – and why would it be for a woman who has performed trilingual standup sets, run 32 marathons in 31 days and campaigned valiantly if unsuccessfully to be the Labour candidate for Sheffield Central? – she will also be giving the solo treatment to Hamlet before the year is out. Her aversion to flying is what prompted her to train as a pilot, and it is a fear of literature that will now find her alone on stage each night performing Great Expectations.ĭistilled by her brother, Mark, into a 15,000-word script, the adaptation gives Izzard 19 roles to play including the enterprising Pip, his icy, beloved Estella, the convict Magwitch and the cobwebbed Miss Havisham. We are here to discuss her new one-woman show, which she tells me was born out of fear: whenever she is frightened of something, she makes a point of running towards it. Her hair is punky and platinum with black roots, her lips painted bright red, her long burgundy nails click-clacking against the glass table. Izzard, who is 61, arrives this morning clutching a pink mobile phone and a Harlan Coben hardback. In this world of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, that’s got to be better than all the hatred and lying of the right wing.” Izzard’s planning to go into politics in a year. “The new fascism tries to put a wedge between us but trans people exist and have done so since the dawn of time. Her jauntiness about the subject hides a serious point.

Just one look book by harlan coben